Speak
by SchizoCheese
Summary: The language of love is universal.
1. i

"Hey, what's eating you?"

Luneth's voice jars me out of my daze.

"Nothing."  
"Really? You've been staring at the same page for the past half an hour."

Looking down, I realise he's right. I haven't turned the page at all since I opened the book.

"I give up on studying. History is such a chore."  
"Is not. It's fun."  
"No, it's not fun."  
"Yes, it is."  
"YOU say physics is a chore. And chemistry too."  
"That's different! That's science people kind of stuff. History isn't."  
"You just suck at formulas."  
"You suck at writing argumentative essays for humanities. We're even."

I roll my eyes and shut the textbook with a snap. I look up from my seated position on the floor; Luneth is lying on the bed, his head over the edge, so when I look at him, his face is upside down.

"Why aren't you studying for the test tomorrow?"  
"I told you already, I'm done revising."

He rolls over, no longer upside down.

"But obviously we're not going to get anywhere because you keep doing a spacebar."  
"I'm spacing out because I don't like this topic. I'm not being emo or anything."  
"I never said you were being emo. I just think something's bothering you."  
"And why would you come to that conclusion?" By now, I'm getting a little irritable.

He gives me a once-over.

"Well, for one, you've been more than a little sulky ever since you came over this afternoon."  
"That's just because I was tired."  
"I think it has something to do with Lightning being out of town for the week."  
"It's got NOTHING to do with that."  
"You're a lousy liar, Hope."

I feel the tone of my voice get a little harsh.  
"Are you going to help me study or not?"

Luneth is a little taken aback, but he shrugs. "Whatever you say." 


	2. ii

"I wish you could talk, Myu."

I look into the bright golden eyes of Squall's cat, Myu. She blinks at me, and meows. I scritch her behind the ears. We don't keep pets at home. I really wanted a cat, but Lightning flat out objected; she didn't 'want to be responsible for any other living being' except for me. I was disappointed, but I could see her point - she already had her hands full and I didn't want to add more to her plate.

I sigh and Myu curls up next to me.

"Not going to sleep?"

For the second time today, I nearly jump. I turn around to see who called me, and come face to face with a familiar pair of blue eyes. Myu looks up, ears perked.

"Uhm...can't sleep."  
"Any reason why?"  
"...Thinking."  
"About?"  
"Stuff."

I feel him sitting down beside me.

"Go on."

I look at him. His expression is gentle. I want to say something, but the words just get stuck. So he says something instead.

"Are you angry at Lightning?"  
"N-no! No way. I'm not angry at her. It's...just that, she's not home alot recently because of work, and when she is, she's tired or frazzled and I don't want to bother her...I mean, I'm not some clingy kid anymore."  
"You miss her, don't you?"

Why is he so good at this sort of thing? I go quiet; suddenly the floor is very interesting.

"Did you tell her?"  
"No...I mean...I never saw any reason to...she knows, right?"  
"What makes you think she knows?"

I want to retort back, but I can't think of anything.

"Lightning isn't the most sensitive person on the planet. You of all people should know that, Hope."  
"What if she thinks I'm just being silly?"  
"She may seem a bit harsh at times, but I assure you, Lightning cares alot about you. Sometimes she just needs a little reminder that people care about her, too."

I look at the floor again. Myu gets up, stretches, and steps over me to sit between the both of us.

Cloud lets out a chuckle, taking out his cellphone. "The both of you are so silly."

I glance over at him. "Who are you dialing?"

"Who else?"  
"...ah?"  
"Don't you have something to say to her?" 


	3. iii

"Farron speaking."  
"Took you long enough to answer."  
"Oh - hello, chocobo."  
"Lovely; I do you a favour and that's how you talk to me?"  
"As if you ever really cared. What're you calling for?"  
"Someone wants to talk to you."  
"Oh?"

Cloud hands me the phone. I hesitate to take it.

"No harm in saying it, Hope."

I reach out and put the phone against my ear. A familiar voice comes through the speaker.

"Hello? Are you still there?"  
"L-Light?"  
"...Hope? Is that you?"  
"Er...yeah."  
"Hey there. How's things? You doing alright?"  
"Uhm...yeah, yeah, I'm fine."  
"I can't stay on the line too long, Hope - we're kind of swamped at the moment so..."  
"Uh..hey, Light?"  
"Hm?"  
"Uh..I...uhm..."  
"Is something wrong?"  
"No...it's...when are you coming back?"  
"Soon, I hope-"

It's now or never.

"I...I really miss you."

There is an audible pause on the other side. I can almost visualise her expression. I kind of dread the worst.

"I...miss you too."

Okay, THAT was not expected. I fumble for words, but Lightning's not quite done.

"I'll be home in a few days; turns out the situation is not as dire as my boss made it out to be."  
"I thought you said you'd be gone for at least a week..."  
"Like I said, he exaggerated it. Anyway, when I get back, I'll take you to that really nice ice cream parlour Fang told us about, okay?"

I can hardly keep the elation out of my voice.  
"Okay!"  
"See you soon, then. Take care."

I hear the sound of the call disconnecting, and I look back up at Cloud. He's smiling at me, and I can't help but grin back.

"Alright, that's that. Now get to bed. You have a test tomorrow, don't you?"

--

I'm woken up the next morning by Luneth dragging me out of bed. Well, 'bed' in a loose sense of the word, since I'm sleeping on the floor.

"Ow, ow, ow! Okay, okay, I'm up! Let GO!"  
"How on earth do you wake up on your own? You've snoozed the alarm twice already!"

I sit up, stifling a huge yawn. I look at my friend, who's already dressed and is now packing his backpack. I tend to forget Luneth likes to leave early.

"Hey...uhm, by the way, Luneth...thanks for last night."  
"Huh? What?" He turns, giving me a confused look.  
"For...uh, asking Cloud to help."

Luneth stops what he's doing for a minute.

"...I didn't tell him anything, what are you talking about?"  
"I totally know you did."  
"I didn't say anything to him, you dork."

I hear Squall yelling up the stairs for him to 'get down here and help with breakfast'.

"Hurry up and get changed - today is waffles." "Ah - okay."

I smile to myself as Luneth leaves the room, yelling back a retort to Squall.

--

If someone truly cares for you, they don't need you to tell them that you're hurting. They know, without words. And it's those people we will always want to cherish, and become. To them, we can speak without words; for the heart will always understand love. 


End file.
